Remember Me Review

`Remember Me` is worth watching...and remembering (IANS Film Review)

Rating:***

Life is not lived in great achievements, but in small moments spent with loved
ones that haunt you when they are gone. `Remember Me` is a call to live those
moments when they are happening, and to remember and yet move on when they have
left.

It`s 2001. Six years ago, Tyler`s (Robert Pattinson) brother had hanged himself.
And 10 years back Ally (Emilie de Ravin) witnesses the murder of her mother in a
mugging incident. Both of them react differently to their tragedies. Ally wants
to live every moment, while Tyler becomes broody, rebellious and hates his dad,
who he believes to be the cause for his brother`s suicide.

Tyler`s and Ally`s fathers react differently to their tragedies. The former
(Pierce Brosnan) buries himself in his business, while the latter (Chris Cooper)
becomes over protective - both strangulating their children in their own way.
Charles even neglects his 11-year-old daughter, who has a genius for painting.

When fate brings Tyler and Ally together, they fall in love, and find solace in
each other. But will their barely teenage romance, survive the storm of the
times?

Remember Me is a film that is a lot like our memories, unhurried and
haunting. The end that comes suddenly is a shocking reminder of lives suddenly
left incomplete. It might seem pretentious to some, but could also be looked as
probable stories of loss and grief on a fateful day in 2001 that changed the
history of the world.

The film urges you to remember those lives, and yet in doing so it tells you to
exorcise the past and move on. Perhaps it wants to tell you that the past has to
be cherished so one could move away from it and live in the moments.

Pattinson is his broody self made famous by the `Twilight` series. However, if
you intend to see the film expecting another teeny-weeny romance or to have a
glimpse of his cute self in a cuter film, you`d be disappointed.

Though it is a story of romance between two people barely out of their teens, it
is way too serious for the understanding of kids. It is a mature, contemplative
film that demands a kind of patience that comes only with age and loss.

Both Pierce Brosnan and Chris Cooper excel in their well played out roles while
Emilie makes the big jump from television into silver screen. But it is director
Allen Coulter, another import from television, and first time writer Will
Fetters, who with their timing, shine through the film despite a few jarring
cinematic moments.

Remember Me is about the grief of loss and coming to terms with it.
But make no mistakes, it is a film easy to dismiss if you are in a hurry. Pay
attention, to the film and to your life, or you will miss the most important
bits.